All should adhere to COVID-19 protocols
The end of the State of Emergency in September, which paved way for the opening of the entertainment sector, didn’t mean that COVID-19 is behind us, not by a long shot. Somehow we all knew that opening for live events after more than 18 months would come with behavioural risks and their mitigations. But that didn’t mean events promoters and their patrons should be casual and forget that we still need to control the pandemic. Though COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalisations have declined, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep them down, revellers included. Collective behaviour of some patrons at a recent live event headlined by South African artist, Makhadzi was worrying and should never happen again.
A number of concertgoers ignored basic health ministry’s line of defence to social distance and wearing of masks. The breach even caught the eye of the First Citizen. When addressing Selebi-Phikwe residents, President Mokgweetsi Masisi bemoaned: “We all saw what happened when a certain female artist pulled a crowd of people recently. People were screaming and not wearing masks. Brace yourself, there will be a change in our COVID- 19 statistics in the next three weeks.” He was directing his criticism towards the organisers of the concert where thousands of people gathered in clear violation of the COVID-19 protocols. Masisi said they cannot allow people who observed health protocols to be affected by unruly revellers. He was partly right to insinuate that the mass gathering at the Molapo Piazza would likely amplify the transmission of the virus.
We cannot deny the fact that the event played a huge role in reviving the live events ecosystem and boosting the local economy. That said, organisers of such events should also work hard to contain the spread of infection. Everyone knows that coronavirus spreads between people through close contact, including droplets. Therefore, as much as revellers want to see their favourite artists at close proximity, they should not all crowd near the stage and without wearing masks for that matter.
As much as we can blame the revellers, the government is also partly to blame because when the creative industry opened there were no clearly defined rules and regulations. The percentage of venue capacity is not apparent and now promoters can just fill up arenas without hesitation. Promoters have not been making money for the past 19 months and some are bound to get tempted and capitalise whenever opportunity arises. It is possible the turnout was far more than what the organisers had anticipated, therefore venue owners should limit the number of people who get in. Promoters should also ensure that venues are organised in such a way as to make desired behaviours such as social distancing possible. Batswana should know that unsafe behaviours put fellow patrons at risk and not only within the venue, but they also put everybody’s families and the entire country at risk.